UK Faces Postal Strike

[mandy]

Britain is facing its first national postal strike for 11 years after Royal Mail staff on Wednesday voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action.

Business leaders warned that a series of short sharp strikes, being planned by the workers’ union, would be particularly damaging for small businesses...

”Any Royal Mail strike could have a devastating effect on small businesses,” warned the Federation of Small Businesses. “They often work on tight margins and any short-term interruption in their cash flow can cause significant problems for them.”...

full article: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/e2264412-14e0-11...10621.html

[mandy]

Strike confirmed:

We are hugely disappointed to confirm that the CWU has given us notice of strike action. The strike will take place on Friday June 29th, beginning at 3am.

We have well-developed contingency plans in order to reduce the effect of the strike, but disruption is inevitable...

What does it mean for our customers

    * Access to Royal Mail services is available on strike days - but limited to a single collection from street boxes and Post Office Counters, which may be earlier than the advertised times
    * We will attempt to deliver Special Delivery items, but this cannot be guaranteed, and so the money-back guarantees on these services will be suspended for items posted on Thursday June 28th
    * Special Delivery items posted on Friday June 29th will be guaranteed to be delivered on Monday July 2nd
    * Parcelforce's guaranteed services will remain unaffected
    * All other mail services will be subject to delay

full announcement: http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/conte...Id=1000002&mediaId=51600692

[mandy]

More industrial action planned:

We are hugely disappointed to confirm that the CWU has given us notice of further strike action. The strike will start at 7pm on Thursday July 12th 2007, and continue through Friday 13th July.

Please note this strike does not affect Royal Mail's operations in Northern Ireland, with the exception of Special Delivery guarantees, which will be suspended for the whole of the UK.

full announcement: http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/conte...Id=1000002&mediaId=51600692

[mandy]

Latest update:

ndustrial Action Update

We are hugely disappointed to report that the CWU has announced a series of strikes over the two-week period beginning at 7pm on Wednesday 25th July 2007 and ending at 12 noon on Wednesday 8th August. The action will not take place on a national basis but at different Royal Mail sites, at different times, across the country.

What this means for you

The situation is complex, but our assessment is that the strike on w/c Monday July 30th will impact the following:

    * We anticipate that all Mail Centres will be on official strike on Tuesday 31st July
    * Customers may continue to post items, as usual, on this day but we recommend posting in post boxes outside of Post Offices
    * All Regional Distribution Centres (RDCs) and our network drivers will be on strike on Wednesday 1st August
    * We regret that there will be limited delivery services on Thursday 2nd August
    * Collections on Thursday 2nd August will be limited to a single collection from post boxes outside of Post Offices. These collections may be earlier than the normal advertised times
    * We will do all we can to delivery Special Delivery items, but Special Delivery guarantee will be suspended for items posted on Wednesday 1st August and those items due to be delivered on Thursday 2nd August
    * Parcelforce Worldwide’s guaranteed services will remain unaffected
    * Royal Mail’s Branch Direct, Sameday and Door to Door services remain unaffected
    * All other mail services will be subject to delay